5 Takeaways from Travis Scott’s New Album, Astroworld

While many weirdly have only just been getting to know Travis Scott as Kylie Jenner’s baby daddy, the rap faithful have been anticipating Scott’s Astroworld since before he dropped 2016’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. After constant delays, last-minute updates, false-start release dates, and a stop-gap collaborative album (Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho with Quavo), Scott’s long-teased third album finally arrived today—and it’s bigger than anyone could’ve imagined. If you’re taking on this 17-song, guest-packed thrill ride, here’s what you need to know going in.

Shoutout to Texas

Astroworld is far more indebted to Scott’s hometown than any of his previous records. The album takes its title from a Houston theme park originally intended to complement the Astrodome, before it was purchased by Six Flags in 1975. The park closed in 1999. “They tore down AstroWorld to build more apartment space,” he told GQ Style. “That’s what it’s going to sound like, like taking an amusement park away from kids. We want it back. We want the building back. That’s why I’m doing it. It took the fun out of the city.” The album positions itself as a pleasure-filled playground for a star-studded cast, but it should also be considered a tribute to the Texas rap community.

Most notably, there is a song called “R.I.P Screw,” an homage to the legendary Houston DJ who invented screw music. Scott honors Texas hip-hop staples DJ DMD (Port Arthur), the late Fat Pat (Houston), and Lil’ Keke (Houston) by sampling their 2001 collab, “25 Lighters,” on “Can’t Say,” a song that cedes quite a bit of space to Houston upstart Don Toliver. Dallas rapper Big Tuck drops in for a monologue on “Carousel,” which also samples his song “Not a Stain on Me.” There are nods, name drops, and interpolations of the late Houston rappers Big Moe and Big Hawk, Screw’s collective the Screwed Up Click, and UGK’s Pimp C. And what some may clearly recognize as a sample of Goodie Mob’s “Cell Therapy” on “5% Tint” might actually be Lil’ Keke’s “Peepin in My Window,” which samples, screws, and distorts “Cell Therapy.” Of course, Texas rap guru Mike Dean—who produced albums for Geto Boys, UGK, Scarface, Willie D, and many more—serves as Astroworld’s executive producer, alongside Scott. This is the first time Travis Scott has really traced his musical lineage beyond his own solipsism, the carefully crafted cult of personality propagated by those directly in his orbit.

Just How Big Was the Budget?

When Travis Scott convened a cabal of hitmakers and producers of the moment in Hawaii earlier this year, it had whiffs of the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasysessions. No one could have predicted just how stacked Astroworld’s roster would be, though. So stacked, in fact, there wasn’t any room for “Watch,” a recent loosie featuring Kanye and Lil Uzi Vert, which Kanye himself asked to be released.

Frank Ocean and Drake anchor back-to-back tracks, “Carousel” and “Sicko Mode.” There are background vocals and bridges sung by Pharrell, Kid Cudi, Swae Lee, and Sheck Wes; condensed rapped verses from 21 Savage, Takeoff, and Nav; hooks from the Weeknd, Quavo, Gunna, and Juice WRLD. The production team is an all-star roster featuring Hit-Boy, WondaGurl, Boi-1da, Frank Dukes, Murda Beatz, Cardo, Sevn Thomas, Nineteen85, Sonny Digital, and Tay Keith. And those are just the collaborators you might consider “rap adjacent.” There’s also Tame Impala, Stevie Wonder, and John Mayer.

The songs are richly layered, weaving live instrumentation with samples including Beastie Boys’ “The New Style” (on “Carousel”), Guy’s “Piece of My Love” (on “One Deep”), and Luke’s “I Wanna Rock” and Biggie’s “Gimme the Loot” at various points of the three-part “Sicko Mode.” Some moments are so subtle, they take a few listens to reveal themselves. Like all of Scott’s albums, Astroworld looks and sounds expensive, but where its predecessors have struggled to be more than big-ticket compilations with Scott’s name rubber stamped on them, this one is a tightly woven tapestry.

The Connector

Scott has considered himself the heir apparent to Kanye West for some time now, adopting the pose of the master orchestrator compiling all-star ensemble casts. He has been building up to the improbable creative decisions on Astroworld since his debut 2013 mixtape, Owl Pharaoh, where he scored uncredited vocals from Justin Vernon and Popcaan, slapped a Toro y Moi interlude in the middle of the trap-heavy project, and paired together high-fashion rapper Theophilus London and grill-bearing Swishahouse poster boy Paul Wall.

But where an album like Rodeo made Scott seem like a glorified DJ Khaled, Astroworld actually makes a strong case for his skills as a connector of worlds. "Who put this shit together? I’m the glue," he sings on “Sicko Mode,” and it shows across the album: Pharrell and the Weeknd croon atop production from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker (“Skeletons”); James Blake’s disembodied wail and Kid Cudi’s seismic hums are matched with Stevie Wonder harmonica solos (“Stop Trying to Be God”); Thundercat and John Mayer worked on the same psychedelic beat (“AstroThunder”). For the first time, the epic moments on a Travis Scott album feel largely indebted to his supervision.

Clunker Carousel

That said, the lushness of Astroworld still can’t completely hide the flaws in Scott’s verses. A small sampling of his witless one-liners:

“Me and my bitch, I swear we like the same sex/Fuck with all my chains on, let’s have chain sex” (“NC-17”)

“Chicago baby, she just wanna drill” (“Can’t Say”)

“I smack that ass she threw it back in self defense” (“Who? What!”)

“Handin‘ out the E! to the entertainment/You know I’m the saddest poppin‘ and it’s dangerous” (“Houstonfornication”)

“Pop a seal like it’s Chris, make it look Breezy” (“Houstonfornication”)

The Money Shot

Astroworld didn’t arrive without controversy: Trans model Amanda Lepore was removed from an earlier version of the alternate cover (see below), shot by David LaChapelle and depicting a Travis-themed amusement park. “It was great being part of @david_lachapelle s incredible photograph of @travisscott s album cover but I’m curious why I’m not on the picture @travisscott posted,” Lepore wrote in the caption of her Instagram post, as many speculated about the role of transphobia in this decision. Scott’s camp denied removing Lepore from the cover, while LaChapelle responded vaguely in an Instagram comment: “Everybody wants to explain everything with some phobia or whatever. This is a case of something else she can't seem to control lol. Ain’t nothing to do with hating.” The famed photographer and music video director, known for his hyper-real style, later clarified the reason: “Amanda was taken out because she just upstaged everyone.” That response seemed to satisfy the model, who edited her original IG caption to add, “A girl can't help it! Too distracting for the eyes! Upstaged everyone in the photograph!”